Houston’s Employment Picture ShowsFurther Improvement

• The Houston area’s unemployment rate dropped to 7 percent in August, matching the state’s rate, according to the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC).

• That is down from the 7.5 percent rate, not seasonally adjusted, that both the Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown metropolitan statistical area and Texas recorded in July. It’s also down more than one percentage point from the 8.4 percent the Houston area recorded in August 2011.

• However, the state’s seasonally adjusted rate held steady at 7.1 percent in August, the same as its revised July rate. The seasonally adjusted national rate is 8.1 percent.

• Texas employers added 38,000 seasonally adjusted nonfarm jobs last month, the TWC reported. Seven of the 11 major industries in Texas added jobs in August, led by the construction sector with a gain of 13,600, up 2.3 percent from July.

Weekly HAR Market StatThe Federal Reserve recently announced its third round of quantitative easing (QE3). This time, it took the form of $40 billion in mortgage-backed securities (MBS) purchases each month. The goal is to bolster the stock market by diminishing returns on MBSs. This will make equities more attractive, which will provide capital to corporations, who should in turn hire and therefore spur consumer spending. If successful, that job creation and spending will resonate into housing consumption and reinvestment. New jobs fuel housing demand which alleviates underwater homeowners and supports home prices.

In the Houston region, for the week ending September 16: • New Listings decreased 5.9% to 1,839

• Pending Sales increased 51.8% to 1,553• Closed Sales increased 2.0% to 1,146

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Accredited Buyer’s Representative

Date: Monday - Wednesday, October 1 - 3 Time: 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.Location: HAR CentralInvestment: $299

The Accredited Buyer Representative designation is the benchmark of excellence in buyer representation. The Real Estate Buyers Education Council, a council of NAR, awards this coveted designation to real estate practitioners who meet the specified educational and practical experience criteria. The third elective day will cover Marketing Reboot, which is approved for 8 hours of MCE. In this one-day course, students will revisit marketing fundamentals—branding, relationship marketing, with an emphasis on electronic tools, including social media, blogs, Twitter, pods, and Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feeds, website search engine optimization (SEO), among other technologies. Sign up today for this special opportunity to learn about buyer representation. THIS COURSE FEE INCLUDES THE 2-DAY ABR CLASS AND THE ELECTIVE COURSE.